S63 Super Trofeo Cup Honours & Sven de Wulf interview!
As we geared up to a new GT3 Masters championship, and after the success of the MX-5 Cup hosted in R3E, the RRL circus moved back in ACC with another single-make championship.
The Lamborghini Super Trofeo ST EVO2 was the weapon of choice for this championship hosted in collaboration with our friends from ACC Vlaanderen. Faster than the GT3s in a straight line, but with less downforce, the challenge for the drivers was clear from the opening round at Paul Ricard where most of the 28-car grid threw their wings in the bin.
As we travelled through the rest of Europe with Barcelona, Nürbürgring, Misano and Silverstone it became clear that this championship was not about outright pace, but rather consistency. Going into the season finale at Monza, the top 3 drivers had never stood on the podium's top step, and that would remain the case after both 30-minute sprint races at the Temple of Speed.
In the end, it was Ralf Arella taking his 9th (!) RRL drivers championship, with Intense Racing (Dhoore and Bulcke, 2nd and 3rd in the drivers' championship) took the teams' championship home. Also in the AM Cup, consistency was key as Sven De Wulf put his car just outside the top 10 at each race with no DNFs.
This single-make series made passing on track tough, so it was a test of patience and making no mistakes on track!
RRL and ACCV want to thank everyone involved in this series and we look forward to seeing everyone on track at RRL or ACCV very soon!
Interview with Sven de Wulf, the AM Cup winner, about his adventures during this championship.
RRL Media:
Sven:
Well I was quite amazed that after a fairly slow start of my season I started climbing the ranks among the AM Cup participants. Going into the last round I knew Uhlik was a formidable opponent and I would need every ounce of skill and if it wasn't for his misfortune, I would probably be on the 2nd step so I must acknowledge his skill also.
RRL Media:
Sven:
Since this was my first ever real sim racing series I was very nervous at the start, not knowing how strong the field was going to be. I was hoping to be competitive in the AM cup, and a part of me was dreaming of being mid-pack. I did not have any experience with the ST Lambo, so I hammered out a lot of practice time, trying to understand how the car wanted to be driven and then adjusting my driving style to find somewhat of a middle road. I still find it a very challenging car to drive well without overdriving.
RRL Media:
Sven:
I think I'd have to pick Paul Ricard for this one as I simply had zero experience, before that I only did a couple laps on track to get my track medals in ACC but that's it. All the other tracks I've known for years since I've been playing racing games since I was a little boy. I was going around monza and silverstone at age 6 on a playstation 1 so that felt less intimidating of a track.
RRL Media:
Sven:
Oh easy, the most memorable would be the Barcelona races, but not for a good reason. I lost all the ffb in my wheel halfway trough the warmup lap for race 1, that resulted in me racing both races with a dead wheel. Luckily it was only ffb that failed and my buttons and steering inputs were still registered or I would have had to forfeit the races. Most exciting would be race 2 on Misano, my series best result at P11. It was amazing fighting for that position and keeping the pace troughout the entire race.
RRL Media:
Sven:
I believe being consistent lap after lap is a lot more important that setting that single fast lap time, that's why I usually don't qualify that high but end up gaining a few spots in the race. Steering well clear of incidents, even if it means losing seconds to the guys in front. I also noticed my skills grew immensely throughout the entire series.
RRL Media:
Sven:
As I mentioned I lost ffb for the Barcelona races, that was a very difficult race as I felt nothing about what the car was doing, so I relied solely on muscle memory. In the end, those were the races that got scratched, but at that point you just gotta try and make the best of the situation. I was pretty bummed about it. Luckily I haven't had any hardware failures since.
RRL Media:
Sven:
I most enjoyed when I could battle with T. de Em and Nigel Wood, they were always that little bit faster than me so that pushed me to give the best of myself to keep on their tails.
RRL Media:
Sven:
I really enjoy the entire community, beforehand it was just little old me racing online and not knowing anyone who I could talk to about it because none of my friends really do sim racing. Now it feels like a big group of friends who I can talk to about very simracing specific things.
RRL Media:
Sven:
Ah well, this is the big question is it not? If my talent allows I'd love to keep getting faster and better at simracing. I'd love it if I could get to a level where I can compete for actual top spots and offcourse I dream about getting sponsors to support me, for instance in LowFuelMotorsport series, or here on RRLeagues series. But for now I'll keep practicing, honing my skills and improving both my driving and racecraft.